Fencing the green sailing fields of Qingdao

by Rob Kothe on 1 Jul 2008 China has wanted to have a green Olympics, emphasising its efforts to improve the environment but Qingdao, the coastal city 550 kilometres south of Beijing which will host the Olympic sailing competitions in five weeks time has hit the headlines world wide for being all together too green.

The sailing venue city's Yellow Sea coastline has been coated with a bright green algae bloom since late May

The algae is actually edible, it’s used by Japanese cooks as a side dish with seafood. Its scientific name is enteromorpha prolifera. E. prolifera is a short-lived filamentous, very fast breeding alga with high nutrition value.

The regional government had apparently mobilised more than 10,000 people and over a thousand vessels to clean up the algae in the sea.

Local media has reported that 100,000 tons of the algae had already been taken out of the water and much of it has been transported to farms as feed for pigs and other animals.

Yuan Zhiping, assistant of the Chairman with the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee, said the algae has covered part of the training area and sometimes blocked the 15 sq kilometre sailing course area. Estimates are that a third of the Olympic course area was affected.

Now another idea has been ‘floated’. Yuan Zhiping has suggested that the government might have to block algae from floating into the Olympic sailing area by installing a fenced perimeter in the sea that is more than 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, long. However just how that might be done is interesting to contemplate.

However there is confidence amongst the event officals. 'I believe we will make sure the Olympics sailing area is clean by July 15 through our efforts, and make sure the Olympics sailing goes smoothly,' Yuan said.

Now one local newspaper has reported that and additional workforce 11,000 college students had volunteered, (or perhaps been volunteered) for cleanup duty during the weekend

Sailors from at least 30 countries and regions are training in Qingdao for the Olympics, which will open on August 8.